Job Interview With a Vampire
by DeBrabant
Summary: SEQUEL TO: Curiosity Did What? / Xander, after getting fired again from one of his horrible jobs, heads out looking for a sign to help guide him a bit. And he finds one...two doors down from Buffy's house. It reads "Sunset Consultants",


Job Interview with a Vampire  
By Danii  
Summary: Xander, having been fired from every decent place in Sunnydale, decides to try at a new business in Sunnydale when he drives by it.  
Disclaimer: I own no one. Not Xander, or Zachary, or anyone else in this story. Not even Jeremy!   
Distribution: You actually want this? Sure, just put my name on it and tell me...  
Rating: G-PG  
Ships: Canon  
During the summer after season 4  
XOVER: It is with the same movie from "Encounters of the Odd...Kind", "Sunset Consultants", and "Curiosity Did What?" which I have already posted: "Love Bites: the Reluctant Vampire"  
NOTE: This is the fourth in a planned series of "encounters" with Zachary in which every Buffy character I feel like writing (meaning I might just leave Riley out...) meets up with him individually, and nobody tells any of the others about this oddball...  
  
And now:  
  
"Crappy job number 18 down the drain..." Xander Harris muttered as he walked into the Watcher's house that had become the group's hang out over the past few months.  
  
Xander was rather depressed. He was behind on his rent by a month, and he just couldn't find a job that he was good at. Actually, he couldn't find a job he was good at, that would employ him, pay the bills, and not have him working every second of the day. Being a high school drop-out just plain sucked...  
  
"Do you know what, Tara?" he told the blonde witch who was currently curled up on the couch with a book, "Stay in school, or you'll end up like me...depressed, broke, and tired..."  
  
Tara looked up at him with a blank look on her face at first, but eventually her mind absorbed what he had said and the expression changed to one of compassion. She'd come to recognize, just like the other Scoobies, the way he got when he lost a job.  
  
"Oh Xander...don't be upset. I'm sure you'll find another job soon enough, and this time, you'll make it..." she told him, giving him an encouraging smile.   
  
Xander gave her a small, sad smile back, then sat tiredly down on the couch next to her. "I don't know, Tara...doesn't seem like it...just seems like I'm going no where fast..."  
  
"Don't say that!" the witch argued, "You are going somewhere...just because you wander doesn't mean you are lost!"  
  
He turned to Tara with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Saw it on a button..." she admitted with a shrug, "Seemed appropriate..."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Then they sat in silence again, until Tara put her hand on his arm.  
  
"Don't worry, Xander...you'll find a job. A job that you like, that pays you what you really deserve. A job that's just right for you. Just don't stop looking for signs..."  
  
Xander smiled. Tara was quiet most of the time, but if you just talked to her one on one, she was really sweet. He was glad that this was the person who currently held Willow's heart. He trusted her with his best friend's affections. Which reminded him...  
  
"Where's Willow?"  
  
"Oh she went to go get food..." Tara said, "But she's been gone for a while now, and she didn't even ask for my order, so I think she's really doing something else. It's probably a surprise for everyone...or me..."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if it was." The dark-haired young man said with a twinkle in his eye. He felt a little better now. He felt like the world was not ending any more (though, it probably would try to some time soon). So, with a spring in his step, Xander got up.   
  
"Going so soon?"  
  
"Guess so..." he said, running his fingers through his ruffled hair, "I came by to ask Giles for something, but since he obviously isn't here...I think I'll head home...or what should be home, if my parents haven't evicted me yet..."  
  
"All right, Xander," Tara said, waving goodbye as she pulled her book back into position, "See you later..."  
  
"Bye, Tara" he said as he walked out the door.  
  
Then he got into his decrepit car and began to drive around, hoping for a sign to tell him what he should do...  
  
##  
  
Around three hours of driving later, Xander saw a sign. It was large, lit up like a Christmas tree, and had a picture of a sunset on it. It was set up, oddly enough, on a lawn a few doors down from Buffy's house, yet he'd never seen it before. Which meant that the business was new. Which meant it had never had him as an employee before, didn't know him at all, and had never heard his name before. That made it a spot where he actually had a chance at getting a job.  
  
Apparently, from what the sign said, it was a consulting agency, but Xander knew he didn't have to really know anything about that to get a job there. He could file (knew how to do that rather well due to his extensive training from Giles and the Sunnydale Library), answer phones (as long as it wasn't phone-sex, which he'd tried at one point, and been horrible at due to his tendency to try to watching football at the same time), and he could type (due to nothing unparticular, he just could).   
  
So with hope in his heart, and a tic-tac in his mouth, Xander walked through the door of Sunset Consultants. There he found a nice waiting room, an office, and a short man in the office who was neatening things up.  
  
"Hello, Mr..."  
  
"Simms." The shorter man answered, looking straight at Xander with his green-blue eyes, "Zachary Simms at your service. My, I'm rather busy tonight..."  
  
"Really?"  
  
The man smiled, "Yes. You would be the second person to come in tonight...the other young lady just left..."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Can I help you with something, young man?" Mr. Simms asked in a friendly tone, "Or did you just decide to walk in like that youngser the other night?"  
  
"Huh?" Xander said in confusion. Then his mind caught up with the conversation. "No."  
  
"Then how may I help you?"  
  
"Actually..." the young man said slowly, looking around the brightly-lit office, "I was wondering if I could help you...would you happen to be hiring?"  
  
Mr. Simms' eyes opened wide for a moment as he computed the question, and then he took a good long look at Xander. In that look, he took in just how important his answer would be to the young man before him.  
  
"Yes..." Zachary said briskly, "Yes...actually I was thinking of advertising for an assistant, especially now that I realize how much my business is going to be expanding since I moved here. Nothing big...just secretarial duties, maybe some lifting of boxes and that sort of thing..."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Would you be able to work the night shift?" he asked, gesturing quickly that Xander should take a seat while he himself sat down behind the desk. "A little before sunset to 12 o'clock?"  
  
"Sure!" Xander answered, perhaps a little too anxiously. "Works out great!"  
  
"And I'm assuming you can type, answer the phone and such?"  
  
"Yup!"  
  
Mr. Simms cocked his head to the side and seemed to give Xander another look.   
  
"And would you have a problem dealing with slightly...odd clients?"  
  
Xander's brain, while excited, went into danger mode. Odd clients. On the Hellmouth, that could mean everything from someone who insisted on washing their hands five times in a row to a Fyarl demon with a hangover.   
  
"What kind of odd clients?" the young man asked. He wanted the job, but he wasn't going to league up with some evil businessman to get it.  
  
Mr. Simms smiled. "You're sharp. Never get into anything that you don't know enough about. Trust me on that score, I know. And the fact that you asked 'what kind of odd clients' tells me that you know exactly what type I'm talking about..."  
  
"So you are talking Hellmouthy types then..." Xander said quickly, "I don't have a problem with that...as long as it isn't BAD Hellmouthy types..."  
  
Mr. Simms looked stricken. "Of course not!"  
  
"Okay then..."  
  
There was silence, and then Mr. Simms broke it with a cough.  
  
"Um, but if you are employed by me..." he said, getting up smoothly from his seat, "There is one thing I think you should know..."  
  
"What?" Xander asked, hoping it was nothing involving slime.  
  
"I'm a vampire..."  
  
The young man didn't even stare. He just rocketed from his seat and pulled a cross and a stake from who knows where. But before he could say anything, Zachary sat down, a rather tired expression on his face, and began to explain.  
  
"I'm not that kind of vampire...dear God, this would be, what...the second? No, really the third time I'm explaining this tonight..." he said despairingly, "I'm different. I have a soul. I don't kill people. I have nothing to do with the demonic, and I'm not evil..."  
  
"Then-"  
  
"I haven't tried to start an apocalypse, and I haven't killed a single person in all 350 or so years of my existence..." he finished with a sigh. Then he added, "And if I really wanted you dead, don't you think you would be that way already? And no, you're not bait either..."  
  
Xander stared at the man behind the desk for a second, then thought about all that had happened since he had walked in. The man had been kind, courteous, and had been about to give a job to a young man he had just met with just the slightest idea of what they could do and who they were. And his actions hadn't had the littlest bit of malice or hunger to them, as most evil vampires did even when they were acting nice. Xander put the cross and the stake back from where he had them and sat down.  
  
"Thank you..." Zachary said when the young man across from him took a seat once more, "Thank you for being sensible...and I'm sorry I got a little aggravated, but-"  
  
"That's the general reaction in this town when people find out you're a vampire..." Xander told him good-naturedly, "At least in my little possie. Probably comes from the distinct lack of nice vampires. All we get are the rip-your-throat-out, end-the-world types around here."  
  
"Yes, I found that out earlier in the night from the client I told you about..." Zachary said with a smile, "Well, we'll just have to prove ourselves different, right, Ris?"  
  
"Definitely, Zachy..." said a smooth, feminine voice from behind Xander's head, "Especially since I've just been made Mayor of this town..."  
  
The young man spun quickly, and there was a raven-haired goddess behind him. Long, dark hair...beautiful eyes...curves...long legs...DON'T DROOL! Xander shouted to himself as the beauty sat in the chair next to him. Damn. He'd hadn't had it this bad since high school. Anya, he thought, remember Anya!  
  
"So" the goddess said, "you'll be working for Zachy now, Mr..."  
  
"Harris..." he answered quickly, "Xander Harris...well, it's really Alexander, but everyone calls me Xander..."  
  
"Xander..." she said, rolling the name on her tongue, "You know, Xander, if Zachy hadn't hired you, I would have...you seem like an interesting young man..."  
  
"Yeah..." he got out.  
  
"In fact, you seem like someone I could spend a good long time with..."  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
"Would you be interested in that, Xander?" she said, leaning in and caressing his face with her rather chilly finger, "Would you like to spend a good long time with me?"  
  
"Uhhngk"  
  
"Oh stop flirting with the boy!" Zachary cried at last, not particularly happy with his old friend's interest in his new employee. He didn't know if that was because he was once with Nerissa, or if he was disturbed by the fact that she was flirting with his employee. And besides, the young man was practically going into a catatonic state.  
  
Nerissa gave her old friend a distasteful look, and then backed off, climbing ever so slowly out of the chair while Zachary's newest (and only) employee watched in awe. Then Nerissa smiled down at him.  
  
"I will change you if you want..." she said quietly, her voice serious yet not sad, "Just ask..."  
  
"Maybe after I get to be a little older..." Xander replied intelligently, "I'd like to be able to buy alcohol legally before I make a decision on eternity..."  
  
Nerissa turned to Zachary. "You're right...he is sharp." Then her gaze went down to Xander once more. "See you around, Xander..."  
  
"Bye..."  
  
"Nerissa." She supplied for him as she disappeared behind the door to Mr. Simms' home.  
  
"Bye, Nerissa..." Xander said in a slightly lost voice, staring after her with a wanting expression on his face. Zachary, with a deep sigh, snapped his fingers. The young man shook his head, and looked clearly at his new boss. He had a bit of an embarrassed look.  
  
"Don't worry, young man..." Zachary told him with a smile, "She had the same effect on me three centuries ago..."  
  
The two shared a smile, and then Mr. Simms gave a cough, and said, "Now, down to business..."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"As to your pay..."  
  
##  
  
Xander walked out of the office roughly an hour later, a large smile plastered on his face and a song in his heart. He had a job. True, it was a job in which his boss was a vampire, but it was a job.  
  
"What wackiness..." Xander muttered as he got into his car, "I'm dating the ex-demonic girl, sometimes living with the chipped dude, best friends with the Chosen One, and now I'm employed by the undead, who I can't tell anyone about since one of the Scoobies will probably go all 'Van Helsing' about it...oh no, Harris, you're life's not complicated..."  
  
And yet somehow it worked. This craziness that was his life actually worked for the first time in a long while, and he was rather happy.   
  
"Maybe I'm just crazy..." he mused with a smile, "Being born and raised in Sunnydale, anything's possible..."   
  
Meanwhile, Zachary Simms was in his office, putting away the last of the forms that Xander had filled out for him. What an interesting young man. What a fine sense of humor. What an amazing survival instinct.   
  
"Reminds me of you when you were that age..." Nerissa said as she walked out from behind the door once more, "Except you had considerably less experience with the supernatural..."  
  
"Indeed..." the blue-eyed vampire answered, "He's a fine lad..."  
  
And a fine addition to the set, Zachary thought. The Slayer, a business-minded witch, a starving vampire, and now an ambitious, demon fighting young man. He wondered who was going to join them, till another thought ran through his mind...  
  
"What would happen should they all meet?"  
  
The End  
  
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